UK meeting milestones for Euratom exit

Further information

The UK Government said that this legislation enabled the government to establish a domestic nuclear safeguards regime following departure from Euratom and provided a clear signal to the public, industry and international partners that the UK was on track to meet its obligations from day one of exit.

Nuclear safeguards were important processes through which the UK demonstrated to the international community that civil nuclear material was not diverted into military or weapons programmes.

The UK’s commitment to international safeguards and nuclear non-proliferation was reaffirmed in Vienna on the 7 June 2018, with the signing of 2 new safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The signing of new bilateral agreements with the IAEA, a Voluntary Offer Agreement and Additional Protocol, will replace existing trilateral arrangements between the IAEA, Euratom and the UK.

The new agreements ensured that the IAEA retained its right to inspect all civil nuclear facilities, and continued to receive current safeguards reporting, thereby ensuring that international verification of our safeguards activity continued to be robust. Such agreements have been put in place on a voluntary basis by the 5 nuclear-weapon States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The new safeguards regime to be established in the UK would be operated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). The ONR already regulated nuclear safety and security in the UK and had been making preparation to replace Euratom as the regulator of safeguards.In June 2018 the Nuclear Safeguards Bill became one of the first pieces of legislation addressing the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union to complete its passage through Parliament.

On addition, the UK’s commitment to international safeguards and nuclear non-proliferation was reaffirmed in Vienna on the 7 June 2018, with the signing of 2 new safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

• Primary Source

Website: Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) http://www.onr.org.uk/

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

ESO: Find further information on Brexit and Euratom http://www.europeansources.info/advSearchLink?keyword=brexit%20after%20euratom%20&searchOption=all

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